mothers day gifts

These little cookies – described by one friend as tasting like a cookie within a cookie – are really a mixture between a meringue and a cookie. Hence they’ve become known at home, where they’re immensely popular, as Merookies, and are ideal with a cup of coffee after dinner. They are called “forgotten” as, just like the 'Forgotten Pudding' in Nigella Express, they are not baked, but put in a hot oven, which you immediately turn off, leaving the cookies to bake in the fading residual heat overnight. I find it all too easy actually to forget them, and always put a post-it sticker on the oven to remind me they’re in there, so I don’t burn them to a cinder by preheating the oven to cook something else in it the next day. 

Forgotten cookies

free-range egg whites,

fine sea salt

grams/3½oz caster sugar

tsp cornflour

tsp cider vinegar vinegar

¼ tsp ground cardamom

75 grams/2½oz mini dark chocolate chips

75 grams/2½oz pistachios, finely chopped

Try making these chewy, luxurious biscuits at home. Careful weighing of the ingredients is the key to success.

Equipment and preparation: for this recipe you will need a sugar thermometer and three baking trays.


Mary’S Florentines

butter

grams/1¾oz demerara sugar

golden syrup

grams/1¾oz plain flour

cranberries

grams/1¾oz peel,

grams/1 ounces almonds, finely chopped

walnut pieces, finely chopped

plain chocolate (70% cocoa solids)

Mary’s florentines

Mary Berry's quick savoury muffins are superb with soup, salads or for eating on the go. The cheese is lovely and oozy if you serve them warm. Eaten cold, they are still fragrant, with a nice saltiness from the cheese and olives. 

For this recipe you will need a 12-hole muffin tin and muffin cases.


Mary Berry's cheesy muffins

275 grams/9¾oz self-raising flour

tsp baking powder

salt

grams/1¾oz butter, melted

free-range egg, beaten

250 milliliters/9fl oz milk

75 grams/2⅓oz Gruyère cheese, grated

basil, leaves only, chopped

75 grams/2⅓oz pitted black olives, chopped

tbsp sun-dried tomato paste

With just four ingredients, you can make your own coconut ice at home. They make great edible gifts too! 

You will need a 20cm/8in square baking tin for this recipe.

Coconut ice

397 grams/14 ounces tin condensed milk

325 grams/11½oz icing sugar, sifted

coconut

pink food colouring paste

The best flapjacks are gooey, chewy and, above all, easy. These fruit-filled treats are great to make with children. You will also need a 20x30cm/8x12in baking tray. 

Easy honey flapjacks

unsalted butter

demerara sugar

honey

400 grams/14 ounces porridge oats

grams/1¾oz nuts, raisins, crystallised ginger or desiccated coconut (optional)

Classic, chewy and good for your soul, Lorraine Pascale’s flapjacks are simple to make and hard to beat!

Each serving provides 318 kcal, 3.5g protein, 43g carbohydrates (of which 25.5g sugars), 14g fat (of which 8g saturates), 2.5g fibre and 0.1g salt.

Flapjacks

muscovado sugar

350 grams/12 ounces porridge oats

½ unwaxed lemon, finely grated zest only (optional)

ginger (optional)

These delicious raspberry and white chocolate muffins couldn’t be simpler to make and use frozen raspberries for ease. For really light, well-risen muffins, it’s important not to over-mix. Don't worry about any tiny smears of flour in the batter.

Raspberry and white chocolate muffins 

300 grams/10½oz plain flour

caster sugar

1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

100 milliliters/3½fl oz milk

100 milliliters/3½fl oz soured cream

eggs,

sunflower oil

vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

grams/5½oz raspberries

grams/3½oz white chocolate chips

Mary Berry's lemon drizzle traybake cake has been a hit since the 1960s, and this is the recipe she is most asked for when stopped in the street.

Equipment and preparation: for this recipe you will need a 30x23cm/12x9in tray bake tin.

Each serving provides 290 kcal, 4g protein, 38.5g carbohydrates (of which 25g sugars), 13.5g fat (of which 8g saturates), 0.7g fibre and 0.6g salt.

Lemon drizzle traybake cake

flour

level tsp baking powder

free-range eggs

tbsp milk

lemons,

lemon verbena (optional)

sugar

lemons, juice only

Mary Berry makes her lemon verbena drizzle cake.

Lemon Verbena Drizzle Cake

You can choose any filling you like for these easy little homemade chocolates. They are ideal as sweet nibbles or as a gift for family and friends.

Equipment: you will need a large silicone ice cube tray. 

Homemade chocolates

grams/10½oz milk

grams/3½oz desiccated coconut

200 milliliters/7fl oz condensed milk

marshmallows

tbsp peanut butter, crunchy

fruit and nut mixture

Making your own filled chocolates using an ice cube tray.

DIY chocolates

Nadiya's chewy, almond and raspberry amaretti have a fresh raspberry hidden in the middle. They make a lovely gift, but are best eaten straight away. 

Raspberry amaretti biscuits

butter,

340 grams/11¾oz caster sugar

340 grams/11¾oz ground almonds

grams/¾oz freeze-dried raspberries, blitzed to a powder

almond extract

raspberries

icing sugar

These easy, healthy vegan flapjacks use a mixture of mashed bananas and coconut oil instead of traditional butter, but keep the classic addition of golden syrup for a bit of extra sweetness. If you’re avoiding refined sugar, swap the golden syrup for equal parts maple syrup.

Each serving provides 240 kcal, 5g protein, 29g carbohydrate (of which 14g sugars), 10g fat (of which 6g saturates), 5g fibre and 0.2g salt.

Vegan flapjacks 

ripe bananas (about 300 grams/10½oz)

coconut oil

100 grams/3½oz dried apricots, roughly chopped

grams/1¾oz coconut

pumpkin seeds

oats

flaky sea salt

Mary Berry's ginger biscuits are simple to make, crunchy and very tasty. The mixture spreads out to give very thin, crisp biscuits, so they need to be spaced well apart on the baking trays. 


Ginger oat crunch biscuits

150 grams/5½oz butter, diced if cold

golden syrup (see recipe tip below)

grams/2⅓oz self-raising flour

grams/1¾oz semolina

grams/3½oz porridge oats (standard

ginger

Mary Berry bakes her delicious Ginger Oat Crunch Biscuits.

Ginger Oat Crunch Biscuits

Push the boat out with these melt-in-the-mouth biscuits filled with homemade jam and vanilla buttercream.

For this recipe you will need a piping bag, a medium star nozzle, a large star nozzle, 3 baking sheets 

Mary’s Viennese whirls 

250 grams/9 ounces jam sugar

grams/1¾oz icing sugar

cornflour

grams/3½oz unsalted butter, softened

200 grams/7 ounces icing sugar,

vanilla extract

One of my favourite bakes is a recipe for apple cake I created many years ago. This is a version of the same recipe but made up into individual cakes, which could be served warm as a dinner party dessert or cold as a delicious picnic treat. 

Equipment and preparation: for this recipe you will need six 7cm/2¾in cooking rings.

Mini apple and almond cakes

grams/2¾oz butter, melted, plus extra for greasing

grams/3½oz self-raising flour,

egg,

60 grams/2¼oz Bramley apples, peeled and thinly sliced

almonds

(optional)

This is the easy vanilla cupcake recipe we turn to for bake sales and school functions. It’s quick and easy and fairly foolproof. Get creative with the sprinkles or add a few drops of food colouring to brighten them up.

Need more? Use our <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/sponge_cake_calculator">cake calculator</a> to customise the recipe!

Easy vanilla cupcakes

200 grams/7 ounces unsalted butter,

tsp vanilla extract

grams/4½oz unsalted butter, softened

milk

These gorgeous chewy, chocolate coated florentines make a beautiful gift, if you can bear to part with them!

Traditionally they have one side covered in chocolate, but that doesn’t agree with me – where am I supposed to hold it without getting melted chocolate all over my fingers? So I like to half dip. No messy fingers and I get to taste the florentines in two different ways. 

Ginger and almond florentines

softened,

grams/1¾oz brown sugar

75 grams/2¾oz crystallised ginger, finely chopped

grams/1¾oz almonds

orange, zest only

chocolate

65 grams/2½oz white chocolate

For this rhubarb-infused gin you will need to use bright pink, early forced rhubarb and allow at least 1 week after making before drinking. This gives the gin a beautiful pink colour and fresh, sweet rhubarb flavour. Add a few slices of fresh ginger, ½ vanilla pod or perhaps a star anise or a few strips blood orange zest if you want a more aromatic flavour.

Top 17 mothers day gifts recipes from across the web

The most viewed mothers day gifts recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine

Top Tags

Forgotten cookies

Mary’S Florentines

Mary Berry's cheesy muffins

Coconut ice

Easy honey flapjacks

Flapjacks

Raspberry and white chocolate muffi...

Lemon drizzle traybake cake

Homemade chocolates

Raspberry amaretti biscuits

Vegan flapjacks

Ginger oat crunch biscuits

Mary’s Viennese whirls

Mini apple and almond cakes

Easy vanilla cupcakes

Ginger and almond florentines

Rhubarb gin

Top 17 mothers day gifts recipes from across the web

The most viewed mothers day gifts recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Forgotten cookies

Mary’S Florentines

Mary Berry's cheesy muffins

Coconut ice

Easy honey flapjacks

Flapjacks

Raspberry and white chocolate muffi...

Lemon drizzle traybake cake

Homemade chocolates

Raspberry amaretti biscuits

Vegan flapjacks

Ginger oat crunch biscuits

Mary’s Viennese whirls

Mini apple and almond cakes

Easy vanilla cupcakes

Ginger and almond florentines

Rhubarb gin

The most viewed mothers day gifts recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine